Adjustable shelf support



Sept. 12, 1939. I E. SWEDMAN ET AL 2,172,881

ADJUSTABLE SHELF SUPPORT Filed Feb. 10, 1939 Patented Sept. 12, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,172,881 ADJUSTABLE SHELF SUPPORT nesota Application February 10, 1939, Serial-No. 255,627

7 Claims.

Our invention relates to an improvement in adjustable shelf supports wherein it is desired to provide a means of supporting a shelf so that the same may be tilted at variousangles.

5 Numerous devices for the purpose of supporting shelves at one angle or another have previously been constructed. Many of these constructions disclose a brace which is adjustable in length to be attached to the outer end of a shelf which is piv- 10 oted at the back so as to raise or lower the front end of the shelf. The problem of making the brace adjustable in length, while not diflicult, is usually somewhat costly, and the manner of adjustment is not particularly easy to accomplish.

Brackets have been provided so that a brace may be secured in various positions to the bracket so as to change the position of a pivoted shelf. In this type of construction, however, in order to provide the desired amount of adjustment, the

20 bracket must be of considerable length.

It is a purpose of the present invention to provide a shelf support in which the shelf is supported upon one bracket arm while a brace is attached to the outer end of the shelf and is pivotal 25 with relation thereto. Both of these bracket arms are adjustably engaged in a suitable bracket, and accordingly, the bracket is greatly reduced in size due to the fact that both of the supporting arms are adjustable. Furthermore, this con- 30 struction enables the shelf to be entirely removed in a simple and easy manner.

It is a purpose of the present invention to provide a shelf support including a pair of bracket arms which are adjustably secured to a suitable 35 bracket. In attaching the bracket arms to the bracket, the arms are bent to extend through apertures in the bracket. These bent ends are of such a shape that the ends may be easily removed from the apertures when this is desired but are 40 shaped in such a way that they cannot readily be accidentally disengaged from the bracket.

It is a purpose of our invention to provide a construction whereby a plurality of shelves may be secured in alignment to brackets so that the 15 individual shelves may be individually adjusted to accommodate the articles to be placed upon the same. In this way one shelf may be tilted to display the tops of packages placed thereupon whereas vertical articles may be stood up on the i other shelf and viewed from the front in elevation.

It is a further feature of our invention to provide a shelf support by means of which the shelf may be positioned nearer to or farther from the rear surface of the refrigerator or wall to which the shelf is attached. With our construction the shelf may be moved forwardly or rearwardly by adjusting the supporting bracket arm and brace with respect to the bracket.

These and other objects and novel features of 5 our invention will be more clearly and fully set forth in the following specification and claims.

In the drawing forming a part of our specification:

Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view through a refrigerator showing an end view of a shelf which is adjustably supported.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of one of the brackets and the supporting arms secured thereto which arms support the shelf.

Figure 3 is a plan view looking down upon the ends of two adjacent shelves which are attached to a single bracket.

Our adjustable shelf support A is particularly I designed for use in a display refrigerator B or the like. This type of refrigerator ordinarily is provided with a solid top portion Ill, front windows I through which the contents of the refrigerator may be viewed, and rear sliding doors or panels l2. The brackets A are preferably secured to the interior rear mullion and stiles by any suitable means such as heavy wood screws i3 indicated in Figure l of the drawing.

The brackets A comprise frustro-pyramidal brackets having side walls M, a top wall I5, a front wall l6, and a rear wall IT. The rear wall ll bears against the interior mullion or stile of the refrigerator and is secured thereto by means of the heavy wood screws |3 which extend through this rear wall H. The bottom of the bracket A is preferably open in order that axis to the screws |3 may be readily obtained.

The top wall 5 of the bracket A includes a series of openings l9 which are provided in alignment between the front and rear walls of the bracket. Either one or both of the side walls M are provided with a series of openings 20 as illustrated in Figure 1 of the drawing to receive the shelf suporting brace.

The shelf C is of any desired formation and is '45 shown in the drawing as comprising a pair of longitudinally extending base wires 2| to the upper surface of which transverse tray wires 22 are secured. The tray wires 22 preferably bend upwardly at each end at 23 and a longitudinally extending wire rail 24 connects each series of ends of the transverse tray wires 22.

A bracket arm 25 is connected to the longitudinally extending base wires 2|, being secured to the ends of the inner-most base wire 2| and place by screws ings 20'.

2, being secured to the other wire 2| at a point 26 near the end of the same. This brace wire 25 is provided with a substantially S-shaped end 2'! which is designed to extend through any of the apertures IS in the top wall [5 of the bracket A. The end 21 is so shaped that when the shelf is in position, the body of the wire overlies the portion of the upper wall of the bracket between the aperture l9 through which the wire extends, and the front of the bracket. The end 21 of the wire 25 extends downwardly through the opening l9 and is bent substantially parallel to the main portion of the wire 25 to provide an end portion which underlies the upper wall l5 of the bracket A and which may therefore not be removed from the opening 19 without raising the bracket arm 25 into position at substantially right angles to the top wall [5 of the bracket.

A brace arm 29 is provided with a sleeve 39 which is secured at substantially right angles to the arm 29 and which is designed to accommodate the end of the longitudinally extending base wire 2! beyond the connection point 25 of the same. This brace rod or wire 29 is provided with end portions 3| which are bent at slightly less than 90 to the axis of the rod. These ends 3! are provided to extend through any of the openings 29 in the side walls M of the brackets A. As the ends 3| are not entirely right-angular, with respect to the axis of the rod, a downward or inward pressure on the right tends to force the ends 3| more deeply into engagement with the openings 20.

If only a single C shelf is provided, the shelves and brackets are formed in the manner which has been described. If more than a single shelf is to be provided in abutting relation, an intermediate bracket A indicated in Figure 3 is provided. This bracket is designed to be held in 13' and is provided with a rear wall l1, side walls l4, and a top wall l5. Two rows of openings l9 arranged in parallel relationship are extended through the top 15' and both of the side walls M are provided with open- With this construction it is obvious that two parallel bracket arms 25 can be secured in the top of the bracket A, as indicated in Figure 3 of the drawing and two brace arms 29 may be secured in the side walls 14' of the bracket A. Obviously either of the bracket arms 25 or the brace arms 29 can be independently adjusted so that the shelves may be tilted independently to any desired angle.

In operation, the shelves 0 are engaged in the brackets A by holding the shelf C at almost right angles with respect to the top IE or !5 of the brackets so that the ends 2'! of the bracket arms 25 may be inserted through the row of openings in the top surface of the bracket. When the bracket arms 25 have been secured in proper position in the bracket to place the shelf at the proper distance from the rear wall of the refrigerator, the brace arms 29 are either slipped over the extending ends of the base rods 2 l and then inserted into the openings or 20 in the brackets, or else may be inserted in the bracket first and then engaged on the end of the rods 21.

It will be noted that by moving the bracket rod rearwardly into the rear opening IS in the top of the brackets and by moving the rods 29 forwardly to engage the front openings in the brackets, the shelf may be tilted upwardly so that the front is substantially higher than the back of the shelf. However, if it is desired to tilt the shelf C forwardly, the bracket arm 25 may be engaged in one of the front openings I9 or I9, whereas the brace arms 29 are engaged in a rear opening 20 or 20. The shelf C will then be supported in a forwardly tilted position so that articles lying flat upon the shelf may be readily displayed through the windows II. It will be further noted that by moving both the arm 25 and the brace arm 29 forwardly and rearwardly in unison upon the brackets A, the shelf may be moved forwardly away from the doors H of the refrigerator or may be moved rearwardly toward these doors.

In accordance with the patent statutes, we have described the principles of construction and operation of my adjustable shelf support; and while we have endeavored to set forth the best embodiments thereof, we desire to have it understood that these are only illustrative of a means of carrying out our invention, and that obvious changes may be made within the scope of the following claims without departing from the spirit of our invention.

We claim:

1. An adjustable shelf support comprising a bracket having a top wall and side walls and having a series of openings through said top wall and through one of said side walls, a shelf having a bracket arm secured thereto engageable in any of said openings in said top wall, and a brace arm pivotally secured to said shelf and engageable in any of said apertures in said side wall.

2. An adjustable shelf comprising a pair of spaced brackets having an upper surface and a side surface, said upper surface and said side surface having a series of openings therethrough, a shelf having a bracket arm secured to each end thereof engageable in any of said openings in said top surface, and a brace arm pivotally secured to said shelf engageable in any of said openings in said side surface.

3. An adjustable shelf comprising a pair of spaced brackets, each including a pair of bracket surfaces arranged at substantially right angles, each of said bracket surfaces containing a series of spaced openings, a shelf having a bracket arm engageable with the openings in one of said surfaces, and a brace arm pivotally secured to said shelf and engageable in any of the openings in the other of said surfaces.

4. A refrigerator shelf construction comprising a bracket having a pair of surfaces arranged at substantially right angles and having openings therethrough, a shelf having a bracket arm secured to one end thereof, said bracket arm engageable in the openings in any of said surfaces, a brace arm pivotally secured to said shelf, and means on said brace arm engageable in any of the openings of the other of said surfaces.

5. An adjustable shelf comprising a pair of spaced brackets, each of said brackets having a pair of surfaces thereupon extending at substantially right angles, each of said surfaces having a series of openings therethrough, a shelf having a bracket arm secured to each end thereof, a substantially S-shaped end on each of said bracket arms engageable in any of the openings in one of said surfaces, a brace armpivotally secured to said shelf, and a bent end on said brace arm engageable in any of the openings of the other of said surfaces.

6. An adjustable shelf comprising a pair of spaced brackets, each bracket of which includes a pair of surfaces arranged on planes at substantially right angles, each of said surfaces having a series of openings therethrough, a shelf, a

bracket arm on each end of said shelf and extending beyond the shelf, a substantially S- shaped end on said extended portion of said bracket arm engageable in any of the openings of one of said series, a brace arm pivotally secured to said shelf, and an end on said brace arm bent at slightly less than 90 to the axis of said brace arm and engageable in any of said openings in the other of said surfaces.

7. An adjustable shelf comprising a pair of spaced brackets, an intermediate bracket be tween said spaced brackets, a shelf extending between each of said spaced brackets and said intermediate bracket, each of said brackets l1avengageable in the openings in the other surface 10 of said brackets.

ENOCI-I SWEDMAN. CARL E. NORELIUS. 

